A digital video recorder (DVR), also called a personal video recorder (PVR), is a device that records video in a digital format to a disk drive or other medium. The term includes stand-alone set-top boxes and software for personal computers which enables video capture and playback to and from disk.
DVRs provide several enhancements relative to devices such as video cassette recorders (VCRs), including convenient time shifting of playback. Additionally, a DVR enables other enhanced playback modes such as pausing live television programming, instant replay of interesting scenes, chasing playback, scheduled recordings of programs, recording one or more programs while simultaneously viewing a different program, etc. Most DVRs use the MPEG format for encoding analog video signals. By saving the signals in a digital format, DVRs provide the ability to jump directly to a scene for playback, rather than rewinding and/or fast forwarding an analog tape as with VCRs.
DVRs may provide one or more enhanced playback modes. For example, time shifting is the recording of programming to a storage medium to be viewed or listened to at a time more convenient to the consumer. Chase play is a time shifting facility that allows a user to simultaneously watch, stop or pause live television while continuing to record a program to its conclusion. Instant replay is a feature enabling a user to quickly review recently rendered video. Pausing live television programming is a feature that enables a user to stop the video and display a still frame. Often, the user may resume the video at the point they paused.
Some DVRs are combined with (e.g., integrated into) a television service provider's set top box, and may include an Electronic Program Guide (EPG), Interactive Program Guide (IPG), or Electronic Service Guide (ESG). These guides are on-screen guides to scheduled broadcast television programs, allowing a viewer to navigate, select, and discover content by time, title, channel, genre, etc., by use of their remote control, a keyboard or even a phone keypad.
Present technology limits viewing to the television connected to the DVR or another computational device such as a personal computer, cellphone, or handheld device. To rewind and replay a specific missed scene or sports action, viewing on the primary screen is interrupted.